Said the King to the River
by wahooligan
Summary: What starts out bright often fades with time.


**I've never written anything very long before so I'm not sure how this is gonna go uwu;;**

**I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

She ambled along, sandals scraping the dirt road as she went. Her arms swung loosely, her tote-style bag swinging against her hip with every shuffling step. It was her day off at the hospital, which was always a sad affair. She began each day off with hopes of meeting up with friends, going to restaurants, and generally having a civilian day, and ended each day off in front of her television, alone. It seemed her friends were invariably called away on last-minute missions of various importance when she had free time.

She had originally had plans to meet up with Ino and have a girls' day, but Ibiki had needed her in the interrogation unit after a chuunin spy had been brought in the night before, leaving Sakura with an empty schedule for the day. She'd decided to use it to restock her fridge, do laundry, and get her apartment set straight for the upcoming week, but somewhere between doing laundry and beginning the rest of her chores she had been called outside by the siren's song of warm sunlight. She now ambled down what was considered to be the main street of Konoha; stalls hawking various wares lined both sides of it and the road was crowded with people.

A cacophony of voices chattered around her, swallowing her in the bustling feeling of a busy place. Her lips formed a small smile as she walked, scanning each stall as she passed for anything she might be interested in. She was so intent on her browsing that she found herself bumping into the person in front of her, looking up just in time to collide with their shoulder.

"I'm so sorry -" she exclaimed as the bag they had been holding was knocked to the ground, interrupting herself to immediately drop to the ground and begin picking up the various vegetables that had spilled out.

"No need to worry, Sakura," a kind, familiar voice responded. She looked up to see a partially-masked face smiling down at her, an unruly patch of silver hair serving to block out the sun.

"I can't believe you let me feel bad like that," she muttered, standing up and thrusting the now-refilled paper bag at him. Making a show of dusting off her skirt, she shot him an irritated look, jade eyes narrowed. Kakashi could only lift a hand to characteristically scratch the back of his head, giving an unconvincing apologetic shrug.

"It's just that you were so cute when you didn't know who I was," he joked, his visible brown eye creasing as he smiled.

"Right, because if I had known it was you I would have told you to watch where you're going! Some elite jounin," she shot back mutinously, bristling as she caught sight of his smile. "Is this what you do for fun? Honestly."

"Ah, don't jump to conclusions. I was just very involved in my bartering."

"I didn't imagine you as the bartering type."

"Of course! A good ninja is vigilant on all fronts, especially financially."

Sakura frowned, placing a hand on her hip. She was unconvinced.

"Well, I can see that you don't believe me, and I don't have all day to stand around and try to explain myself..." he sighed, turning to go. Sakura's frown deepened, dismay playing across her face.

"I'm sorry, Kakashi-sensei. I didn't mean to push like that, I was just frustrated -"

"Forgiven, Sakura-chan!" the man chirped, his smile back. Sakura was suddenly aware that she had been had. "To show you that I have no hard feelings, let's go get lunch!"

Feigning an eye roll and a sigh, Sakura tossed her head before looking back and smiling sheepishly at her sensei, knowing he had seen through her attitude. He returned with a friendly smile of his own and they both found themselves turning in the direction of a certain blond loudmouth's favorite restaurant, Ichiraku's.

* * *

Tying her hair into a loose ponytail, Sakura snatched her bag off the kitchen counter and raced out of her apartment, the door slamming shut in her wake. Forgoing usual methods of travel, she leaped from her doorway on the second floor to the doorway above, scaling her apartment building until she reached the roof. Pausing for a moment, admiring the view of her beloved village, she gave a small smile before remembering her predicament. Her eyes widened a little before she dashed off, leaping from rooftop to rooftop with gusto, sandals skidding across the terrain. She had woken up late for her shift at the hospital, which was very rare for her. It usually meant her day was going to be rough.

Dropping gracefully onto the road as she neared the hospital, she allowed herself to slow down as it became clear that she would be on time. Her calves complained as she walked, and she frowned at how out of shape she was. She was spending too much time healing and not enough training. She mused about potential schedule changes as she finished the last leg of her journey, entering the hospital and walking straight past the orderly and up the stairs. Fishing her keys out of her bag, she unlocked her office and groaned in dismay at the new stack of paperwork littering her inbox. Pulling on her lab coat and plopping down into her desk chair, she took a deep breath and let out a long sigh, resigning herself to her task.

* * *

Some time later, Sakura lifted her head to glare at the clock on the wall above her door to discover that she had wiled away four hours. She grinned as she leaned back heavily and admired her outbox pile, which was now significantly larger than her inbox. Toes skimming the ground as she swiveled back and forth in her chair, she debated on what to do next. She had patient rounds to do, of course, but after four hours hunched over her work she was ready to get her blood flowing again.

She hopped up, slid her coat off her shoulders and onto a hook on the wall, grabbed her bag, locked her office door behind her, and turned to go. She got to the floor below before she was stopped by a frantic-looking nurse.

"Haruno-san, you're needed in the trauma ward -"

"Which room?" she asked, already turning back towards the direction of the starewell.

"502, but I was told to warn you that -"

The nurse sighed, noticing that Sakura had already left. She shrugged and went back to her rounds.

* * *

She burst through the door, snapping a surgical mask on and yanking on latex gloves as she went. The chaos in the room faded to white noise in the background as her worldview narrowed to focus on only the prone form lying in a hospital cot, black hair splayed out on a stark white pillow as eyes fluttered wildly beneath limp eyelids.

She groaned and slammed her eyes shut, feeling bile rise up in her throat as she realised what was going on. She was here to patch him up, make him only whole enough that he would be able to survive torture. It was necessary for the safety of the village, she knew that - a necessary evil, the sacrifice of one life for thousands. Her vision swam, jade eyes unfocused, as she swallowed hard before setting her feelings aside. She was a soldier.

Hands faintly lit with healing chakra, Sakura approached the man slowly, her teeth clenching. It had been a long time since she had seen Sasuke. He hadn't changed much.


End file.
